A little visitor

The power box for my house is right outside my bedroom window - no big deal, except that it doesn't latch properly and I need a ladder (which I don't own) in order to get up high enough to jam it shut again. Because of this, I am quite used to having my sleep punctuated by a constant loud tapping if there's any degree of wind.

So, last night when I head a tap-tap-tap outside my window, I didn't really think anything of it (beyond the standard 'grrrr that stupid door!'), rolled back over, and went back to sleep. This morning, however, I popped down the side of the house just to check that no damage had been done. While there a little something caught my eye...

I stepped in closer, trying to see what the strange shadow was, way up high under the roof. Stepping on the leaf litter, however, I startled whatever it was and it moved even closer to the house. At first I thought it was a cat somehow stuck up on my roof, but when I got closer....

Not a cat! A mountains brushtail possum! I think it's still a young-ish little thing as it's smaller than any of the other possums I've seen out and about. It didn't seem so inclined to move from it's spot so I left it to it's shady spot (the heat has hit this week) and went on about my day.

Coming home this afternoon, I had fully expected the little guy to have moved on, it's hiding place having been spotted, but apparently he's in for the long haul. Kira mentioned her childhood practice of feeding possums jam bread, so having no jam in the pantry, I tried to lure my new friend out with some honey. Never before have I gotten a "you've got to be kidding me, right?" look from a possum, but today I certainly did. Clearly he is happy where he is, so I guess as long as he's happy to stay on the outside of my roof, I'm happy to have the housemate. I even left him his snack just in case.

I don't get as much mountains wildlife here at my place as I thought I might - but being opposite the train station probably cuts down on that unfortunately. I do get monstrously large spiders (seriously, this thing was bigger than my palm) and some lovely morning kookaburras on occasion, so I suppose that really is plenty enough of a menagerie to enjoy.